We met Jose Quintero recently at an event for Congressman Luis Gutierrez’s new political action committee (New American’s Fund) geared at raising money to support pro-immigrant political candidates. When we found out Jose was one, if not the first person to be approved for Obama’s new Differed Action Program to help DREAMERS come out of the shadows, we had to interview him.

OT: How did you come to the United States?

Jose: The only thing I remember about coming to the United States was watching an episode of The Simpsons before leaving my grandparents’ house in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico for the Arizona border. After arriving at the border my mom and I walked the desert for less than a day. I know that a lot of people last days in the desert but we did not. After crossing the border we stayed in a house in Arizona for about two days before boarding a plane to Chicago.

OT: Did you always know about your legal status?

Jose: I realized I was an undocumented person in the United States when I graduated high school and decided to take a year off school before going to college. I had just turned 18 and wanted to get a job. I filled out plenty of applications and only two called me back for an interview. One was a local grocery store and the other was a currency exchange. The interviews were going great until they asked for my social security number and I answered “I do not have one.” I could tell that from that moment the interview was over, and I was not going to receive any call back.

The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and have complete editorial independence from any Politic365 partners, sponsors, or advertisers. For additional information about Politic365, please visit http://politic365.com/about/.

Politic365 is an opinion and policy blog focused on communities of color. We create a positive media outlet for the empowerment and enrichment of our elected officials and community leaders, provide a venue for the exploration of issues important to our communities and address political and policy about the economy, healthcare, technology, energy and a variety of social and cultural issues, all from the diverse perspective of people of color.